Cabinet: 

1.     Noted the progress made on the delivery of the Modern Slavery Statement and the next stepsrequired to further tackle modern slavery; 

2.     Agreed the updated Modern Slavery Statement. 

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) introduced the report and highlighted the following points:

a)     The report was the annual statement which had started in 2019 after a charter was signed in 2018;

b)    The report set out the steps the Council was taking to prevent and combat modern slavery;

c)     There were relatively low levels of modern day slavery in Plymouth, however the Council was proactively taking steps to minimise the likelihood of it happening;

d)    Modern day slavery was a largely hidden crime and therefore it was important that the Council were never complacent and would continue to uphold the principles set out in the Modern Slavery Charter;

e)     Since the launch of the Charter, its contents had become normal good practice across almost every part of the public sector and major employers;

f)      The modern slavery statement laid out the Council’s commitment to combatting modern slavery and highlighted the work that had been undertaken to combat modern slavery in supply chains alongside highlighting the work that had been done in the city and regionally with partners around community safety;

g)     Raising awareness of the signs of modern slavery was a key focus for the work moving forward.

Councillor Haydon (Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Libraries, Events, Cemeteries and Crematoria) added:

h)    PCC continued to work closely with the police and other partners to ensure communities were aware of modern slavery and professionals were able to recognise the signs and could report concerns appropriately;

i)      PCC worked with colleagues over the past year to ensure those working in the city in the care sector through International Visa Schemes were offered appropriate signposting and support, ensuring they have good working conditions;

j)      The police had been supported in response to concerns of potential modern slavery in business premises to ensure all those involved were taken care of and appropriate safeguarding was put in place;

k)     Over the coming months, Safer Plymouth would refresh the city’s Modern Slavery Toolkit to include updates legislation. This would ensure that all partners would know how and when to report concerns.

Tracey Naismith (Head of Community Safety) added:

l)      The partnership toolkit reflected the changes in legislation and the changes to the National Referral Mechanism;

m)   PCC regularly attended the regional Anti-Slavery Partnership;

n)    There had been national, regional and local concerns raised by those working in the care sector around working conditions, terms of employment, accommodation and feelings they had been treated differently to their white British counterparts. Emma Crowther (Service Director for Integrated Commissioning) and Mark Mortimer (Project Manager) had created a comprehensive response to these concerns;

o)    Plymouth Hope had been commissioned to do specific work with those who worked in that sector to ensure they were accessing support and understanding their rights;

p)    There had not been any cases of modern slavery which had gone into the National Referral Mechanism but there was an understanding that as system there was more that needed to be done to help people to integrate;

q)    The response from Plymouth was being replicate across the region and was a great piece of partnership work.

Holly Golden (Head of Procurement) added:

r)     The Procurement Strategy for the organisation had been recently published and highlighted that modern slavery was one fo the key strategic themes to focus on.

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) concluded:

s)     Just because Plymouth didn’t experience modern slavery on a large scale, it did not mean it was not important.

Cabinet agreed to:

1.     Note the progress made on the delivery of the Modern Slavery Statement and the next stepsrequired to further tackle modern slavery; 

2.     Agree the updated Modern Slavery Statement.